


Love Above All Else

by snufflyphoenix



Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Family Fluff, Post-Series, Pregnancy, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 12:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8532598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snufflyphoenix/pseuds/snufflyphoenix
Summary: Athos and Sylvie snuggle and talk about their worries about the future. They know they will face whatever the future may hold together.





	

“Athos?”

 

Athos made a quiet sleepy sound, an eye opening slightly to peer at Sylvie from where he lay in bed next to her. “Mm?” 

 

“Are you scared?” Sylvie asked quietly. She lay on her side, looking over to her partner. A small sliver of moonlight slipped through the shutters at the window and illuminated the room, allowing her to see Athos rubbing his eyes to look at her properly.

 

“Scared?” He asked, his sleep addled brain taking him a while to catch up with the conversation. He turned his body to face her, a small groan of discomfort escaping him as he did so. “..what of?”

 

Sylvie let out a quiet huff, her hands carefully cupping her rounded stomach. “Take a wild guess.”

 

Athos hesitated for a second before gently reaching out so his hand joined hers. “...are you scared?” He spoke quietly, looking at her. 

 

“I’d have to be mad to not be at least a bit concerned.” She said frankly, unable to help herself from smiling slightly at him. “...and you haven't answered my question.” 

 

Athos didn’t say anything, sliding his hand from her stomach to her waist as he moved closer to her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, exhaling slowly. “...I'm terrified.” 

 

Sylvie couldn't help the slight relieved laugh that left her at his admission and he looked at her with a slight frown, confused. “What?”

 

She shook her head, smiling slightly. “Well, that's two of us.” She moved closer to him, resting her hand on his arm as her smile faded. “...I can’t shake the thought that you’re going to leave us. Or that something will happen to the baby, and there’ll be nothing we can do. Or that the war will catch up to us and we’ll have to leave again.” 

 

Athos frowned, his thumb making slow back and forth movements on her waist in an effort to comfort her. Promising that they would all be safe felt futile - he had spent too long as a soldier to be able to make those sorts of promises in good conscience and from what he knew of Sylvie’s life, he imagined guaranteeing her such things would only result in disbelief. “I can’t promise you I won't leave.” He said eventually, speaking slowly and carefully as he thought out his words. Feeling her tense slightly under his arm at his words, he held her tighter as he looked at her. “But I do promise that wherever it is that I am going in this hypothetical situation, that I would be making arrangements for you and our baby to follow as quickly as possible. I will not abandon either of you. Not as long as I have any say in it.”

 

Sylvie relaxed slightly, and tapped his arm in admonishment with a small smile. “You have a knack for making everything sound negative.” She teased him, pressing a kiss to his lips as she felt the tension Athos was holding drain away. She kissed him again, and he pulled her closer before resting their foreheads together. 

 

“I try.” He said dryly, smiling wryly at her in the darkness. “Surely you knew this?” 

 

“Your timing for when you chose to be so somber could use some work.” She shot back without a hint of malice, threading her fingers through the long hair at the nape of his neck. She relaxed against him, the pair of them lulling into a comfortable silence. 

 

Athos leant into her touch, smiling slightly at her. “...do you think we’ll be okay?” He said eventually, his voice soft as his smile slowly faded. The reality of their situation had been sinking in gradually, and the more it did so the more convinced he became that he was unequipped to handle this. He had been a captain in the military, he had been in life threatening circumstances more times than he could count on both hands, but this scared him more than any of those things. 

 

If he made a misjudgement in those situations, he would have died either in solitude or with his men. Either way, he would not have survived to see the consequences and the pain caused by that he would not be around to see, and that comforted him in an odd somewhat selfish way. If he got this wrong, however, this was his child and the woman who meant more to him than any woman ever had. If he misjudged and hurt them somehow, he would not be able to forgive himself and even the thought that he might slip up weighed on him heavily. 

 

Sylvie breathed deeply, considering her answer. She honestly didn’t know. She loved Athos, and their baby, but the truth was that she was making this up as she went along just as much as Athos was. This was scary - there was no way around that. Pregnancy was scary, running away with her partner was scary and the sheer lack of planning involved in both of these things made them even more scary. That wasn’t even going into Athos’ previous commitment issues in their relationship. On the other hand, however, she was having a baby with the man she loved and that was pretty incredible. She had had longer to grow used to the idea than Athos had, and she knew it might take him some time to adjust to their new normal. After some time, she spoke again.

 

“I believe that as long as we keep wanting to make it work we’ll be okay.” She twisted a lock of hair around her finger and pressed a brief kiss to his lips. “As long as we have love, we’ll be fine one way or another. Even if we have to get a bit creative.”

 

Athos huffed in laughter, returning her kiss. “I’m not sure I have a creative bone in my body but you’re a remarkable woman and I will follow where you lead.” 

 

“So now you trust me?” Sylvie raised an eyebrow fondly. “At Beaugency, you didn’t believe I knew where we were going in the slightest.”

 

“Forgive me,” Athos smiled, moving his hand to gently rest it against her stomach again as the baby turned. “See? Bump knows I mean it.”

 

“Bump is easily swayed by affection.” Sylvie teased, smiling softly as Athos crawled down the bed to press a kiss to her bump. It was hard to imagine this man as a soldier’s captain when with her and the baby he was so careful. Leaving the stress of his post in Paris had rendered him sentimental and she was so glad to see him like this. It had been rare to see him so relaxed before whereas now he could often be found with a smile. 

 

“I don’t see you complaining.” Athos leant up to kiss her cheek before lying back down next to her.

 

“Not at all.” She yawned, shifting in bed to get comfortable. “Bump and I are quite fond of affection.”

 

Athos chuckled quietly. “You don’t say.” Once she was settled, he cuddled up to her and his tone grew more serious again. “I know things are likely to be challenging ahead but I’m so grateful for you both. After everything I’ve done, I never thought I deserved anything half as good as what we have and I will try prove to you every day for the rest of our lives that I might be deserving of you. I’ll move Heaven and earth if that’s what it takes.”

 

His monologue was interrupted by a snuffly snore from Sylvie’s direction. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder with a tender smile before settling down to sleep himself. “Sweet dreams, love.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this was originally supposed to be part of a much longer fic that I've been referring to as 'Athos and Sylvie's 17th Century Roadtrip' that I started months ago but then 'Goodnight and Joy' happened and that's been my big multi-chapter. I really enjoyed writing this scene though and on revisiting it I realised it could work as a oneshot so here it is! I love these two and if people would be interested in reading Athos and Sylvie's journey from Paris to Blois to build their home then do let me know and I'll try to start working on that again. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
